Molt Models Tyro 100, kitted by Mountain Models

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The following is the original post which kicked off the
development of the original Tyro, now known as Tyro 100
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Fellow ezoners,

I just wanted to get a general concensus on what everyone thinks of another E-trainer? This design will have the same look and flying characteristics of your run-of-the-mill 40 sized glow trainer. Actually, it will have a lower wing loading, so it should behave nicely...and not so low that it won't handle a breeze. The wingspan is 36", and has 248 sq in of wing area. For a power system you're looking at a 280 to 300 size brushed or brushless. I think a GWS EPS-300 system would fly her nicely.

I actually designed this plane just for myself, for things like aerial photography, glider towing, etc. Basically an electric RC SUV.

Yeah, I've seen Bill's trainer...and think its very neat. However this one has the look of a standard trike trainer. As opposed to some, I like trike gear, if done right they have a very positive control feel. The software used for the trainer is AutoCAD.

I think it´s a great idea. A lot of the trainers we see for electric propulsion are in the "foamie-ARF" format. That´s great, since a lot of people are unwilling to build their first plane, or unwilling to build at all.

However there are those that WOULD be willing to build, and would prefer something more along the lines of a "club-trainer" only substituting the messy .25 or .40 glow for electric.

In my club, I´m sure I could "sell" at the very least 5 or 6 people a year on an electric trainer of built up balsa construction. However, since we are talking about a club-environment, and one that is still mainly glow (though electric is growing fast) I think that it would be better with a slightly larger geared Speed 400 powered ailerontrainer. Personally I prefer the smaller planes (Speed 280-300) but then again, I really don´t need a trainer. In the club-environment there´s really no need for a 3ch basic trainer, with a buddybox you can jump straight for an ailerontrainer. And wind is a constant factor.
So..., a little bit larger and with a bit more power really goes a long way to convince the people who it is MOST important to convince when it comes to clubs. I am of corse NOT speaking of the newbies themselves, I´m talking about the people who will be giving them advice on what to get; the old-farts. The closer you make it to what they are used to, the more they will be likely to recomend it.

We may be talking about different targetgroups though. But what I´m missing right now is a built up electric ailerontrainer with 45-50" wingspan, lasercut and interlocking design and with good performance on a geared Speed 400 on 7-8 cells NiCad/NiMh or equivalent brushless and 2s Lipos. That to me would be the perfect electric club-trainer.

I may even be able to hook you up with a couple of hobbystores in Sweden who would be willing to stock it. It´s not a huge market, but we´ve been discussing the need for such a plane for quite some time now, both in my club (I´m a member of the board) and with different stores.

I like it. I have also been monitoring the SA squirt trainer, which looks pretty nice, but no ailerons currently.
I also like the trike, and is that a steerable nose wheel?
Is the battery compartment accessible through the hatch in the drawings?

Thanks for the insight, I also think there is a market for a larger trainer. However, I just can't get myself to do anything that big. I'm sold on the value of a park sized model, and just can't go larger. So I guess I'll probably loose a sale or two if this ever comes to fruition.

IWC,

Thanks, I like the trike gear set-up too.

cfwdude,

Yes it has a steerable nose wheel, I'll get some more shots of how that works up tonight. Yes, the hatch in the drawings is exactly where you put your battery pack in. I designed it to be compatible with lipo packs in the 1500mah and lower size, up to 3 cell.

So the battery goes in that upper forward hatch? That pretty well limits what battery weight you can use (like these pod/boom pushers like the EasyStar) I'd rather have something like Doug's SmoothE and what Bill's showing for SQuiRT - a nice big platform in the middle of the fuselage with lots of room to move the battery fore and aft, and a quick way in through a belly hatch. The rest of the plane would be designed to pretty much balance without a battery at all, and the battery would be used to fine-tune the balance or compensate for a much heavier or much lighter than intended motor/gearbox/prop. (sorry, it's hard to resist playing engineer....)

I'm in the taildragger camp. A small trike geared airplane is pretty much limited to smooth surfaces, and imposes more limitations on prop diameter.

So the battery goes in that upper forward hatch? That pretty well limits what battery weight you can use (like these pod/boom pushers like the EasyStar) I'd rather have something like Doug's SmoothE and what Bill's showing for SQuiRT - a nice big platform in the middle of the fuselage with lots of room to move the battery fore and aft, and a quick way in through a belly hatch. The rest of the plane would be designed to pretty much balance without a battery at all, and the battery would be used to fine-tune the balance or compensate for a much heavier or much lighter than intended motor/gearbox/prop. (sorry, it's hard to resist playing engineer....)

I'm in the taildragger camp. A small trike geared airplane is pretty much limited to smooth surfaces, and imposes more limitations on prop diameter.

As for looking like an LT-40...yeah, that and 'bout every other 40 size trainer.

Nope, the battery goes through that bulkhead and onto the bottom of the fuse. Take a look at the attached pic. It will be nice an comfortable in there, plus out of the way of my camera I plan to install just behind or in front of the servos.

I have a nice paved runway at my field so I tend to like trikes. However, I have a taildragger option as well. Regardless, I'll be showing some video of her taking off from the grass, so we'll see how that works out.

Thanks for your opinion...thats the kind of stuff I wanted to hear so I can decide whether or not to make something available.